NFL Wrap-Up: Week 7 North Divisions

A surprising debut for a rookie quarterback and a few comebacks that fell just short highlight week seven's games in the north.

by Lance Moose Oct 24th, 2011

AFC NorthCincinnati Bengals (4-2) had a bye this week. They will be on the road next week to face the Seattle Seahawks.

Baltimore Ravens (4-1) go on the road to take on the Jacksonville Jaguars (1-5) for monday night football tonight at 8:30 ET.

Cleveland Browns 6 Seattle Seahawks 3In a game where neither offense could manage to get anything going, Phil Dawson's second 50+yard field goal with 11:18 left in the game proved to be the difference in this disappointing matchup.

Pittsburgh Steelers 32 Arizona Cardinals 20Ben Roethlisberger had arguably his best game of the season going 26-39 for 361 yards and 3 touchdowns to lead Pittsburgh to their third straight win. Among those touchdowns was a Steeler record 95 yard bomb to Mike Wallace (118 yards, 1TD).

NFC NorthAtlanta Falcons 23Detroit Lions 16The Lions went only 1-12 on 3rd down conversions on the day but were able to keep the game close as they came up short on a 4th quarter comeback against the underwhelming Falcons. Detroit has lost two in a row.

Chicago Bears 24 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 18The Bears made the trip to England for this game and star running back Matt Forte made sure to bring his game with him rushing 25 times for 145 yards and a touchdown as the bears hold off the Bucs at Wembley Stadium.

Game of the WeekGreen Bay Packers 33 Minnesota Vikings 27Minnesota rookie QB Christian Ponder looked impressive in his debut despite only going 13-32 for 219 yards, 2 TD's and 2 interceptions. Often times showing off an ability to move in the pocket and scramble to pick up yards when there wasn't anything available down field. Ponder looked like a rookie at times, staring down receivers on occasion and giving up two interceptions to the Packers' Charles Woodson but with the help of Adrian Peterson (175 yards, 1 TD) the Vikings had a chance late to pull off the upset. A puzzling decision by Vikings head coach Leslie Frazier to punt on 4th down with only 2:30 left in the game proved costly as the Packers were able to run out the clock and clinch the victory to remain undefeated on the season.

Offensive Player of the Week

Ben Roethlisberger – 26/39 361 yards, 3 TDBig Ben was also only sacked twice on the day. Considering this is not a normal day statistically for Ben, he gets a slight nod over Aaron Rodgers